


Falling for You

by barley_and_rye



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: (also abigail and leo are twins), (for proper homo zone see my friend lacy's fic, (homo zone is jeremy and dustin and it's just a side ship but shhhh), Education is important, Fluff, I like puns, M/M, Soulmate AU, Soulmates, dont skip school kids, fast burn, golden eyes soulmate au, homo zone, i got my two lil michael's siblings ocs and his mums im proud of them, idk how to tag im so sorry], it's called 'Nonverbal Communication'), jeremy and michael being bros, michael is very dumb, michael mell doesnt deserve eyes, more chapter incoming of course, pins and patches, sorta crack treated seriously at times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-02-26 22:02:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18725866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barley_and_rye/pseuds/barley_and_rye
Summary: Michael has eyes again





	1. Love is Blind

What a fun turn of events.

 

“Jeremy.”

 

“I AM SO SORRY” he wheezed.

 

“Are you actually kidding me?”

 

Halfway through lunch on a previously pretty decent Monday, Michael had put his glasses down for one second and somehow, Jeremy had managed to break them. Whoop dee fucking do.

 

Michael was incredibly farsighted, but even he could recognise that the frame was not supposed to bend like that. His poor fragile glasses were no more.

 

“How did you even do that?” Michael snorted, burying his face in his hands. “Everything you touch dies, Jeremy. EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH DIES.” he tried to make eye contact with him.

 

“I’m sorrryyyyyy~” Jeremy slurred, still giggling.

 

He should definitely take this opportunity to get out of class.

 

‘Oh but teacher, how can I do algebra when I can’t fucking see?’

 

“Jere, I have math. How am I meant to do math when I don’t know what I’m writing?”

 

“Oh my god, Michael.” the blurry blob which was Jeremy picked up the broken glasses, “Have you got spares? Or is this j-just your life now?”

 

“I dunno… probably somewhere at home?” Michael sighed. “Are the lenses broken too?”

 

Jeremy paused. “.....maybe.”

 

“hOW???”

 

“I DON’T KNOW!!!”

 

“THROW THEM AWAY FOR ME PLEASE YOU MORON.”

 

“oKAY.”

 

Jeremy left the table.

 

“Don’t break anything else on your way over there!” Michael called after him. Jeremy was just far away enough for Michael to see the blushing smile on his face when he turned around. The two playfully glared at each other for a moment before Jeremy continued walking away.

 

 

Michael’s eyes were already starting to feel kinda strained. He rhythmically drummed his finger on the table, trying to figure out a school escape plan in his head, but it was hard in the loud, distracting lunch hall. The noise made his impending headache much worse. Luckily for him, he had more than one ‘I don’t want to be here, I'm leaving’ plan that had worked effectively before.

 

Plan A

 

-walk out of school

-hope a teacher doesn’t see him

-drive home early.

 

..…drive...without...eyes....

 

Maybe not that.

His moms would kill him if he wrecked the car.

 

Plan B

 

-walk out of school

-hope a teacher doesn’t see him

-call an uber?

-get in the wrong car because, y’know… blind.

-get kidnapped.

 

Hm.

 

“Me quiero pegar un tiro…” Michael mumbled, rubbing his eyes. It was weird not having glasses there.

 

Plan C

 

-walk out of school

-hope a teacher doesn’t see him

-hide in his car for… a while.

-get the bus.

 

Bus. Bus sounded reasonable. Hide in car, get bus, go home at the regular time, nothing and no one gets hurt except his dignity. It wasn’t that he was afraid of being that ‘loser junior who took the bus’, it was just really, really gross on there. It was probably cleaned like… once every couple months.

Until then, Michael was definitely gonna need a couple hours worth of Bob Marley to pass the time. He pulled out his ipod and tried to check the battery. As he feared, his vision wouldn’t focus on the stupid numbers. His first instinct was to hold the screen closer to his face but obviously, that was the opposite of a solution. Instead, Michael tried to extend his arm as far from himself as he could but it wasn’t far enough for his eyes to work, everything was still blurry because of course it was. Maybe if he had contacts then this wouldn’t be happening but contacts are for weaklings and Jeremy.

 

“What are you actually doing?” speak of the devil…

 

Michael looked up to see his smug friend across from him. “I’m taking the world’s weirdest selfie, why do you ask?”

 

“Dork.” Jeremy snorted.

 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Michael held out his ipod to Jeremy, “Can you check the battery for me? The screen’s all blurry, I can’t possibly place why...”

 

“I get it! I’m sorry!” Jeremy laughed. He paused. “Seventy-three percent.”

 

Michael felt a wave of relief wash over him. Not running out of juice any time soon.

 

“How do you do that?” Jeremy asked.

 

“Do what?”

 

“Listen to music all day and still have battery left.”

 

“Chargers, Jeramo. Use them” he was wise beyond his years.

 

Michael looked up at the clock on the wall. It was 1:10pm. If he wanted to get out without being caught he should probably leave round about now.

 

“Ugh, I gotta go.” he stood up from his seat.

 

“Awww Micha no!” Jeremy whined.

 

“Sorry Jerebear” Michael patted him on the head from over the table, “I’m out.”

 

He picked up his empty food packaging to throw away and hauled his backpack onto his back. It still had ‘riends’ written on it which was fun. He continued using that old bag out of protest, a ‘fuck you!’ to the popular assholes and their standards.

 

“W-Wait… uh… do you want me to walk you there?” Jeremy stuttered.

 

Michael gave him a weird look, “what is this, the nineteen fifties?”

 

They both started to walk away from the table, “I just d-don’t want you to trip, I’d feel bad.”

 

“You don’t feel bad already?” Michael exclaimed in mock-offence.

 

“Wh- NO. I do I-”

 

“God, what kind of a friend do I have?”

 

“MICHAEL!”

 

“Do you even care about me, Jeremy?”

 

“Yes!”

 

Michael gasped, leaning onto him. “yOu dO???”

 

“I do!” Jeremy asserted, shoving him off.

 

“Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww” Michael teased.

 

The two walked out of the cafeteria laughing.

 

“Jeremy.” He stared him directly in the eyes, “What do you have after lunch?”

 

Jeremy turned pink, “...geography.”

 

“...you’re not using me to get out of geography.” Michael deadpanned.

 

“oK FIRST OF ALL-”

 

“-I’m gonna stop you right there. I love you Miah, but I need to leave before there are too many witnesses in the halls.” he winked.

 

Jeremy sighed, “Don’t get caught and expelled.”

 

“Don’t get run over by a rogue freshman.” Michael replied as he walked away.

 

“Don’t d-drop a knife on your foot.”

 

“Don’t fall off the roof.”

 

They repeated similar phrases to each other until they were out of earshot.

 

Michael glided his way through the halls. He was smart, leaving now. There were only a couple others in the corridor and they passed without saying a word. He fiddled with the size adjuster on his headphones, itching to put them on and drown out the world for a couple hours before making his clean getaway.

 

The melodies rattled around in his head. Michael closed his eyes and quietly sung some Bob Marley under his breath, not caring if anyone heard. A smile grew on his face.

 

“One love~... One heart~... Let’s get together and feeel allriiight. Hear the children crying! Hear the children crying... Saying: give thanks to the lord and I will feel alright.”

 

His singing quieted down to a hum. There was a skip in his step. An afternoon of chilling and jamming and whatever sounded good to him. But before Michael could reach the door, he tripped and went flying forward. His eyes snapped open. The world was slow motion, and he was falling through the air.

 

‘Great.’ he thought, ‘so this is how I die.’

 

Just as he was accepting his fate of a broken nose, he landed on something. Something that wasn’t the floor. Whatever it was was softer than that, cotton, and it smelled like dumb, ‘manly’ deodorant. He quickly realised that this was a person.

 

His first thought was ‘oh god, he’s buff.’ to which Michael immediately scolded himself for. Can’t be showing off your gay like that at school.

 

The person helped him stand as Michael struggled to gain his footing.

 

“Hey, are you okay?” they asked. Their voice was like chocolate. Michael tried to ignore how it made his heart race and hoped he wasn’t blushing too bad.

 

“Yeah, yeah i’m fine… sorry, I’m just blind today." he laughed. The only way to not look dumb is to embrace it, right?

 

They were… really close together. Michael took a step back and tried to look them in the face. Everything was still blurry which was great.

 

“It’s cool-” they stopped just as the bell went. Everything sped up again. “Wait- what the… oh shit. What’s your-”

 

“-Sorry i have to go.” Michael interjected, skipping around them. If he didn’t leave now some asshole would snitch on him for ditching. “uh...bye.”

 

He gave them a half-hearted wave as he started jogging towards the exit.

 

“Wait! Where are you going?” they called from behind him.

 

He half turned around, “um… history?”

 

Sure. History. The history lessons held outside in the parking lot. Those history lessons. Perfectly reasonable excuse to make as you push open the door and leave.

 

Michael spent the rest of the school day lying down in the back of his car. He mostly just listened to music and stared at the ceiling.

 

Bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored bored.

 

ADHD is fun!

 

After a while he heard the final bell ring from inside the building. Michael pushed himself up from the car seats and clicked his neck. Lying down for that long in the middle of the day was a bad idea.

 

The ride home was fine, Michael’s headphones drowned out most of the noise. He swore he saw some freshmen at the front holding up a detached faucet?…

 

He’d have to ask his siblings about that later…

 

Long story short: School buses are weird.

 

When they finally reached his stop he hopped off the bus, and skipped down the street to ‘Sun is Shining’. He hummed it quietly under his breath.

 

“Sun is shining, the weather is sweet now. Make you wanna move your dancing feet, yeah~”

 

God, he loved this song.

 

That was when his little sister pounced from behind him.

 

“Heyyy, why didn’t you drive?”

 

“Abigail, leave me alone.” he groaned.

 

She walked in front of him, “I don’t wanna-” Abigail stopped and went silent, which was rare. “...mierda…”

 

Before Michael could ask what was up she started yelling for their brother “¡LEO, DATE PRISA!”

 

He rolled his eyes and sped up. If he could just get home quickly they’d find something else to do and leave him alone. Michael could hear Abby dragging Leo along the pavement.

 

Walk. Faster.

 

“Hey, wait!” she shouted.

 

“What did he do?” Leo asked

 

“Just-... it’s his-... just come onnnn”

 

Unfortunately, they caught up with him and blocked his path

   

“See!” Abby pushed Michael back a couple steps.

 

“Woah…”

 

“Ok seriously guys, what is it?” Michael was done with this.

 

“Do you not know???”” she exclaimed.

 

“It’s your-!” Leo was immediately silenced.

 

Michael could see Abby pulling him away, “shhhh! Let him figure it out…” she murmured.

 

The two started giggling and stumbled back to walk next to him.

 

“I heard that y’know…” Michael stated.

 

“Ok.” Abigail laughed. “...Mamá’s gonna be pissed you lost your glasses~”

 

“That’s not the only thing she’s gonna be pissed about…” Leo teased.

 

Michael’s head snapped towards him. He didn’t know what his face looked like but he was sure it was unsettled, “What does that even mean?”

 

“Shhhhhhhhhh, you’ll find out soon…” Abby purred.

 

“Why are you trying to get me yelled at? Soy tu hermano, me quieres.” Michael pouted.

 

“We never agreed on that.” she deadpanned.

 

“Mahal kita,” Leo explained, “I just think it’s funny.”

 

“Wow, thanks.” Michael huffed.

 

The three walked back to their house relatively calmly the rest of the way. Michael tried to branch off to the 7/11 at one point but they wouldn’t let him.

 

“If you go I’m telling Mamá and Ina about your weed stash.”

 

Abigail was truly a cruel sister.

 

When they finally got home Michael attempted to unlock the door with his keys but Leo slapped his hand out of the way, yelled, ‘nope!’ hitting the doorbell. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet. Both him and Abby stared hungrily at the door.

 

Michael’s stomach filled up with dread. What were they planning?

After a moment of waiting the door opened, he flinched in advance.

 

His Ina was on the other side, Michael could tell because she always answered the door with Tagalog. This was different Tagalog than usual.

 

There was a pause where he thought he might be ok, then, “...ikAW HANGAL BATA. NAKILALA MO ANG IYONG SOULMATE AT HINDI MO GINAWA MENSAHE AMIN???”

 

Michael could see blurred arms flying around as she spoke and heard his siblings wheezing behind him. He was too shocked to respond.

 

Soulmate??? What-..... WHEN???????????????????

 

She dragged him inside by the sleeve.

 

“ROSA.” she called.

 

“¿Qué?” their Mamá answered from upstairs.

 

“nuestro hijo es ORO.” she exclaimed.

 

They heard a scream, then a crash, then loud and frenzied stamping getting progressively closer.

 

Rosa appeared at the top of the stairs with her hair in a mess, “¿OJOS OROS?”

 

Her eyes searched the room before landing on Michael, she narrowed her gaze like an eagle noticing its prey, “Michael Mell. You don’t have your glasses.”

 

He didn’t know what to say, “Uh-… Uh… Jeremy?”

 

“iT WAS JEREMY???” His Ina grabbed his shoulders.

 

He batted her away, “nO, IT WASN’T JEREMY, I DON’T EVEN NO WHAT’S GOING ON.”

 

“Did you not-.....” his Mamá slowly walked down the stairs. She looked at him like she was trying to read his thoughts. “Dios mío, of course you didn’t, estás medio ciego”

 

She tutted and smirked at him, “What are we going to do with you? Diablesos, go find his spares, they’re in the bathroom-... “ Rosa sighed, “...¿Qué es? ...mueble de baño.”

 

“Bathroom cabinet?” Leo suggested.

 

“Si si, gracias. ¡sale!”

 

Abby and Leo ran up the stairs talking amongst themselves.

 

Ina grabbed Michael's hand and hauled him into the kitchen where she then immediately caught him in a bear hug.

 

“...my little boy is all grown up…” she sounded like she was going to cry. Michael didn’t like that.

 

He wrapped his arms around her, still confused.

 

Apparently, he had met his soulmate, and now his eyes were gold, and he didn’t even-

 

“You have no idea who they are, do you? I thought you were the responsible one!” Rosa scolded jokingly as she entered the kitchen. “‘El responsable’, honestly.”

 

His Ina pushed away slightly and wiped her face, “Oh leave him alone, it’s a big day! Where’s the champagne?”

 

“Ina, I don’t want champagne.” Michael laughed.

 

She tutted, “don’t be silly, we’re crinking tonight. That’s what me and tu mamá did when we realised we were soulmates.”

 

“Yesss, kicked her sorry excuse for a boyfriend to the curb and celebrated!” Rosa joined in.

 

“Yeah, well I don’t even know who mine is so-... yeah.”

 

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t a little annoyed at himself, maybe slightly at Jeremy. The one day where something monumental happens and he couldn’t even see it.

 

“Ah, you’re more stupid than I thought.” his Mamá chimed in. “Do you really think they won’t come find you?”

 

Now that, Michael hadn’t thought about. His heart sped up a little and he thumbed at the ends of his sleeves.

 

Someone will come find him…

 

“Awww, kaibig-ibig, he’s blushing~” His Ina cooed.

 

“Leave me alooone.” he scoffed, starting to head to his room.

 

“Mijo no! We want more information!” His Mamá called after him.

 

“I don’t have any!” he responded.

 

There were too many thoughts in his head, he just needed quiet. He just needed-

 

He bumped into Leo halfway up the stairs.

 

“Uh…” Leo held out his spare pair of glasses. “Do you want these?”

 

Michael’s face softened, “Yeah, thanks.”

 

He could sense Leo beaming up at him. His siblings were adorable sometimes. SOMETIMES.

 

He put on the glasses and everything looked a lot clearer.

 

He needed to text Jeremy.


	2. Skipping to the Good Part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael has eyes again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wtf i am so sorry i took so long my god. 
> 
> sdgsjdfgsdf
> 
> I hope it's worth the wait??????? 
> 
> hhhhhhhh
> 
> It's not that i was working on it for ages it's just that i have real bad executive dysfunction and just did not look at it for a while im so sorry lol

By the time Michael left the house on Tuesday morning, he finally had a good chance to look in the mirror. As he was told, his eyes were a rich, shimmering gold. He hoped that some part of that would fade.

 

Sure the gold ‘matched his skin tone’ like his sister said, but god was it flashy. Michael hated it.

 

He couldn’t stop looking at them.

 

Jeremy got his eyes a couple months previously when he made eye contact with Dustin Kropp, Michael’s weed dealer. You’d think the novelty would wear off but apparently Jeremy was just as excited to see Michael’s as when he got his own.

 

That made their phone call the night before extremely entertaining.

  
  


“Just let me seeeee!!! Send a photo or something.”

 

“You’ll see my face when I die, Jeremy.”

 

“I see you tomorrow.”

 

“I  _ DIE _ TOMORROW.”

 

“Drama queen.”

 

“Drama  _ king _ , thank you very much.”

  
  


He was still the drama king the next day, and as drama king he elected to not tell Jeremy which bus he was on with absence of a car, because Jeremy will see his face when he  _ dies _ .

 

Michael really did want to die today too. Out of everything in the world, the thing he hated the most was being put on the spot. Especially when that spot was a social spot. What social interaction put more pressure on you than being confronted by a stranger you know nothing about who the universe decided you should like? ‘I don’t know you! I don’t even know your last name! But hey let’s make out i guess, the universe said it’s my turn with the fate.’ Fate is dumb. It’s a dumb trope. What happened to just… meeting someone you like, and liking them, and progressing in a relationship at a normal speed? Something Michael _ totally _ had experience with. Totally.

 

Romance was a Jeremy thing. Michael was not a romantic. He just wanted a normal day, preferably one without his best friend pointing out every other dude in school and squealing about how ‘he might be the one!’

 

Ugh. Gross.

 

He’ll know ‘the one’ when he sees him.

  
  


The bus arrived at school late, and everyone except Michael went immediately rushing in. That made the school front a lot more empty than usual. He didn’t care enough about homeroom to go past a snail’s pace. (Plus he needed to wait for this song to finish.)

 

His feet scuffed against the asphalt as he ambled towards the entrance. The music blasting through his headphones was too loud for him hear anything else, not even the voice yelling ‘hEY, HOODIE GUY!’ from behind him.

  
He didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary at all until someone ran past him and stopped him at the top of the front steps.

 

Jake Dillinger. 

 

Jake moved to grab Michael but visibly thought better of it and stood away from him, blocking the doors to the school. He looked like a deer caught in headlights.

 

Michael stepped back and gave him a concerned look. 

 

What the hell? 

 

He waited for Jake to move or something but instead they both just stood there, staring at each other. You could hear a pin drop.

 

After a minute of silence, Jake seemingly snapped out of his trance. He glanced around for a moment before turning back to Michael. He cringed and made a ‘taking off headphones‘ motion at him with an awkward smile.

 

Michael cautiously took off his headphones. He had half the mind to run away.

 

“Uh… Hey.” Jake said. 

 

“...Hey?” Michael responded. 

 

There was a pause.

 

“you..… glasses?” Jake looked like he was choking.

 

Michael hesitated and nodded slowly. 

 

Now he wished he had come in with Jeremy.

 

Jake went, “mhm ok.” and glanced at the floor awkwardly, crossing his arms.

 

Michael fiddled with the end of his hoodie sleeve anxiously. 

 

‘Go away, go away, go away, go away, go away, go away, go away-’

 

“So…” Jake continued, looking back up at Michael, “did you not realise... _ yesterday _ happened?”

 

...Yesterday? What happened-?

 

The first bell rang from inside, first period was starting. That’s when Michael noticed it.

 

Had Jake’s eyes always been gold? 

 

Michael didn’t look at Jake much but he knew that was new. (If it was  _ old _ then he’d hope Jake would be more monogamous by now anyway.)

  
His jaw dropped.

 

Of all the people in the world, he was paired up with Jake freaking Dillinger.

 

Who else could it be? No random dude just grabs you outside of school just for shits and giggles the day after you have a weird encounter with probably your soulmate. 

 

Jake pulled at the collar of his shirt and laughed seeing the shocked expression on Michael’s face. 

 

They looked each other up and down. 

 

There were about a billion questions buzzing through Michael’s head. 

 

Mainly, ‘why him?’

 

Jake’s phone chimed from his pocket. He apologised and pulled it out, checking the notification with this curious puppy dog look. It wasn’t cute at all. Michael  _ loved _ how totally  _ not cute _ it was. 

 

The hipster side of his brain was furiously fighting with the gay part.

 

There was another pause between them. Jake put down his phone and shoved his hands into the pockets of his varsity jacket. They didn’t dare make eye contact. It was the first time Michael had ever seen him looking insecure.

 

He really couldn’t decide what to do. 

 

Does he run or does he talk or does he give him his number or does he pretend this never happened?

 

Jake wasn’t his type. It didn’t make sense. Jake was… Jake. Not his type.

 

...so why did Michael really wanna take that second option? 

 

“...Walk with me?” Jake blurted out.

 

He had this nervous expression on his face.

 

“...what do you mean?” Michael asked timidly.

 

“Like… out of school. Let’s go.” he made eye contact with Michael, looking wholeheartedly determined. Michael couldn't find himself saying no.

 

“...sure.” He replied. The words fell out of his mouth before he could weigh the logistics. 

 

Jake’s face lit up. His soft smile looked so much more genuine up close.

 

Jake put out his hand. Michael stared at it and laughed. He held out his own, hesitated, and gently placed his hand into Jake’s.

 

They stood there for a moment before Jake started walking away from school and hopping down steps. Michael hopped after him. 

 

That’s when they heard a voice from behind them,

 

“Hey! Shouldn’t you two be in homeroom?” 

 

That sounded like a teacher. That definitely sounded like a teacher. 

 

Well, shit.

 

The two stood there for a moment, frozen and unsure of what to do, 

 

Then Jake squeezed Michael’s hand, glanced down at him for confirmation, and set off running. Michael yelped and practically flew after him.

 

This was definitely a bad idea, they were definitely getting detentions, but the adrenaline was making Michael too giddy to think about that. 

 

Once they were far enough from school that the teacher would have given up, Jake suddenly stopped and turned around to look at Michael. Michael practically barreled into him, again. He pulled back and held his arms stiff at his sides. 

 

“Is your name Michael?” Jake asked.

 

His face was dead serious.

 

“Uh...never heard of him.” Michael joked. He was very out of breath.

 

“Oh, uh…” Jake had a shocked, half smile, “What’s your name then?”

 

Michael snickered at him. “I’m kidding. Michael Mell.” 

 

He held out his hand but Jake didn’t take it.

 

“...Michael.” he groaned. “So Dustin was right?” Jake asked.

 

Dustin…?

 

Michael raised an eyebrow at him.

 

Jake started moving again at a much slower pace and launched into an explanation. Michael ambled along next to him.

 

He noticed they weren’t holding hands anymore which was… fine. Who cares?

 

“Basically,” Jake started, “after you left I got real concerned ‘cos I had no idea who you were I legit didn’t know if I had seen you before so I went back to the cafeteria and was like ‘hey guys my soulmate just ran off on me and I dunno who he is’ and Jenna and Dustin were like ‘ok, describe him.’ And since they know everyone so i was like ‘oh yeah, red hoodie, great hair, cute.’” He glanced down at Michael for a second with a smirk, then looked back up as if nothing had happened. ”-and Dustin went ‘oh dude that’s Michael, Jeremy’s friend.’ and he asked if you had glasses and you didn’t so we shot that down but apparently he was right and it’s so banging that I know your name now but he’s gonna be smug about this for a week.”

 

Michae laughed. 

 

He didn’t know anyone could talk for so long without taking a breath apart from himself and Christine. 

 

He tried to ignore the fact that Jake had just called him cute.

 

“That’s not what you told them.” Michael chuckled, nervously.

 

“Nah, but you are cute though.” 

 

He couldn’t tell if his heart was thumping so loud because of the compliments or because of the running. He was gonna blame the running. 

 

God this was weird. 

 

“… where are we going?” he asked, changing the subject.

 

“...I dunno…” Jake replied. “I just kinda figured we could walk somewhere… Jenna says I need to think about things less, so… yeah.”

 

“What have _you_ got to think about?” Michael internally rolled his eyes.

 

“Eh… school, clubs, parents… regular junk I guess.” Jake paused. “I’m kinda tired of being… ‘Jake Dillinger’, y’know?”

 

‘Tired of being Jake Dillinger.’

 

Michael knew about a thousand people who would love to be Jake Dillinger. 

 

He couldn’t imagine the torture of so many people looking at him all the time. How people enjoyed that was beyond Michael.

 

Having to get good grades, and be good looking, and good at things, and perfect all the time and-

 

…

 

Oh.

 

Michael looked over at Jake. The guy had bags under his eyes. 

 

It was suddenly easy to believe that Jake might not enjoy it. 

 

Great, so, Asshole Town, population: Michael.

 

His voice softened, “...we can just chill if you want. I don’t really care what we do.” 

 

Jake smiled down at him. “That’d be cool.” 

 

They didn’t say anything more about it.

 

The two walked alongside each other for a while longer. It was nice out, the sun was the right amount of hot and the sky was bright blue overhead.

 

“So… what are you into?” Jake asked. “Like… what do you like?”

 

“Uh…” Michael thought for a moment. “...video games, retro, vintage stuff, Bob Marley…”

 

Jake snickered. “Hipster.” 

 

“And proud.” Michael grinned. “...how about you?”

 

“God… sports I guess? Model UN and debating stuff is cool… you watched the Air Bud movies?” Jake smiled down at him hopefully.

 

Adorable.

 

Michael laughed. “Yeah, I used to love those.”

 

Jake beamed. “Well I love those  _ now ... _ Yo, we should watch them together sometime!”

 

“That sounds really cool…”

 

The hipster side of Michael's brain screamed in outrage as he inadvertency agreed to date two. Meanwhile, the gay part was having a full on pride parade.

 

It was fun. It made absolutely no sense but he was having fun. 

 

Michael’s stomach suddenly growled; he’d skipped out on breakfast. “...you wanna grab something to eat?” he asked.

 

Jake shrugged. “Sure, why not? Mall food sound good?”

 

“Mall food always sounds good.”

 

“Mall food then.” Jake grinned. “To the mall!”

 

“To the mall!” Michael repeated as they both started laughing at each other. The pair made their way toward the mall.

  
  


The Middleborough mall was a largish building laced with a range of stores from the terrible to the passable. On the far end of the mall was the food court full of fast food places which shouldn’t have really passed health inspection and on the other end was the backdoor into shady alleyway™. Even so, this place somehow became the main hang out for Middleborough students. 

 

It was pretty empty when Jake and Michael walked in seeing as it was a school day. They both scanned the area for things to do and places to eat. Michael’s eyes immediately locked onto the local Sbarro’s. Michael  _ loved _ Sbarro’s. 

 

“Jake… Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake.” he said, furiously patting Jake’s arm. “Sbarro’s?”

 

Jake looked like he has just seen the light of heaven shine upon him.    
  
“Dude. Sbarro’s is my favourite place ever.”

 

Michael grinned. “I  _ know _ right? Screw Pizza Hut, Sbarro’s wins.”

 

“Sbarro’s wins!” Jake exclaimed.

  
  
“Yeah, It’s the ooonly valid place to go to when you’re high.” Michael affirmed.

 

Jake snorted. “Oh my god, I wouldn’t know.” 

  
“I would know,” Michael pointed to himself proudly. “And I can confirm.”

 

“Can’t you get arrested for that?” Jake asked. “Like… going out in public... high…”

 

“You and I could both get arrested for walking down the street, Dillinger. May as well have fun with it.” Michael smiled, lazily.

 

“Dude, that’s terrible.”

  
“Mhm”

 

He grabbed Jake’s sleeve and started to pull him along. “C’mon let’s gooo. I didn’t get breakfast.”

 

Jake tutted. “Awful, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. How could you?”

 

Michael skipped backwards in front of Jake. “It’s the most important meal, and I didn’t have it, because I didn’t have glasses yesterday, so I had to take the bus today which leaves super early, because I couldn’t drive home yesterday because I’m blind, so I don’t have my c-” he stopped dead in his tracks. 

 

Well fuck. Jake nearly crashed into _ him _ this time.

 

Michael rolled his eyes at himself. “I don’t have my car which is still at school so we’re probably gonna have to go back there at some point before the end of this. Is that ok?” 

  
  
“Yeah, sure.”

 

Michael smiled. “Cool! Rad.”    
  


“You say rad a lot.” Jake laughed.

 

“I coined the term.” Michael smirked. “Don’t let me forget about the car, ADHD on the brain, bad memory.” he pointed to his skull. 

 

“Gotcha.” Jake nodded. 

  
They stood there quietly smiling at each other for what felt like hours before Michael flipped back to Jake’s side and they carried on walking towards the Sbarro’s. He fiddled with the sitm toys stored in his hoodie pocket. 

 

When they reached the Sbarro’s they ordered like clockwork. Both had obviously been there a thousand times.

 

Michael ordered a classic pepperoni pizza and Jake ordered Hawaiian. 

 

“I didn’t take you for a pineapple man~” Michael teased. 

 

“I have a refined pallet, Mell.” Jake replied as they sat down with their pizza. 

 

“He says, eating God’s greatest mistake.” Michael deadpanned. 

 

“It is not a mistake!” Jake exclaimed. Michael laughed at him. “Ok, no no no, you do not get to insult my pizza like this. Hawaiian is good stuff.”

 

“Ok Mr. ‘Pizza Connoisseur’.” Michael took another bite of his own, glorious, pepperoni pizza. “Whatever you say…” 

 

“Have you even _tried_  Hawaiian?” Jake asked.

 

Michael paused. “...no… but-”

 

“See!” Jake threw his arms out. “You’re missing out dude.” 

 

Michael rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’ll try your sinful pizza then, and we’ll see who’s right.” 

 

He moved to grab one of Jake’s slices but paused. He glanced at Jake for permission. Jake gestured for him to go ahead, so Michael, not slipping eye contact for a moment, grabbed a slice of pizza and took a bite.

 

He was fully ready to overdramatically proclaim how terrible it was but…

 

“...that’s... “ Michael plopped the slice down onto his plate, disgraced, hiding his face with one hand. “...that’s actually ok...” He mumbled. 

 

He looked up at Jake to see the guy grinning ear to ear. It was the most adorable and annoying thing Michael had ever seen. 

 

“So I’m right.” Jake prodded,

 

Michael stayed stubbornly silent.

 

“I’M RIGHT MICHAEL, TELL ME I’M RIGHT.”

 

“Noooooooo~” Michael groaned.

 

Jake glared at him jokingly. They had a mini staring match. A war of attrition.

 

Michael lost.

 

“Fine, your pizza is  _ passable _ and you’re ‘right’” He begrudgingly responded.

 

Jake cheered. “I will accept ‘passable.’”

 

Michael sighed. “You’re so annoying.” 

 

“So? You don’t seem that eager to leave…” Jake pointed out.

 

Michael blushed. “Very annoying! Some might say, the most annoying.”

 

“...Tsundere.”

 

Michael gasped. “ASSHOLE.”

 

“Shhhh I said nothing, baka.” Jake teased.

 

“Really, Jake? In front of my pizza?” Michael asked in mock offence. 

 

“I don't know if you know this about me, but I won’t hesitate, bitch.” Jake deadpanned.

 

The pair went back and forth with various vine references and continued to eat their pizza _. _

 

Eventually, they stood up from their seats and decided to take a stroll around the mall. It was still pretty empty, so they had the whole place to themselves. They went into the stationary shops and messed around with those colour changing sequins, Michael found the book store and picked up a copy of My Hero Academia that he needed, followed by Jake not knowing what that was, followed by Michael having to angrily educate him. When they finally sat down again with ice cream, Jake went through a detailed rant about the rules and regulations of football. He could speak for a long time about one topic… like Michael. Even if Michael knew nothing about it, Jake’s excitement made him  _ want to know. _

 

A lot of time must have passed because it was 1:05pm when Michael’s phone lit up with a text from Jeremy.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

**Player 2**

 

Michaaaa

Micha where are you? :(

Did you skip?

WiThouT mE??? 

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Michael smirked and responded.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

**Player 2**

  
  


Sorry Jere-bear~

Why aren’t you in?

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

He hesitated. 

 

Excuse? Or… truth.

 

Jeremy probably wouldn’t believe him about Jake anyway… 

 

“Who’re you texting?” Jake asked.

 

Michael wouldn’t have either if you told him yesterday.

 

“Just… Jeremy.” he replied.

 

“Oh, cool..... you can tell him about this if you want.” Jake regarded him knowingly.

 

Michael cringed. “You sure? I mean I don’t wanna make you feel like this is a thing you have to do…” 

 

“It’s a thing I want to do.” Jake smiled. 

 

Michael blushed.

 

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

**Player 2**

  
  


You want a secret?

Yes

Wtf

Yes

(Jeremy.)

What?

(Soulmate.)

Wdym

Dude.

Wtf

MICHA

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Michael paused. “...Hey, Jake?”

 

Jake raised an eyebrow at him “hm?”

 

“...Can we take a selfie? I want to freak him out.” He smiled devilishly. 

 

Jake chuckled. “Uh… sure.”

 

Michael moved over and sat next to him. “Make it weird," he said. "The world’s weirdest selfie.”

 

“Sure thing, hipster.” 

 

They leaned against each other and pulled faces as Michael took the picture. He felt all tingly being so close to Jake. 

The photo was taken, but neither one of them made an effort to pull away. Jake’s shoulder was comfy. 

  
Michael texted the photo to Jeremy and was immediately met with his phone almost exploding up with notifications. He turned it off,  deciding to let the chaos stew for a while.

  
“...We should do this again sometime…” Michael mumbled.

 

“...Yeah, we should.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are appreciated owo 
> 
> (the next chapter is like a bonus chapter n stuff with Jenna and Dustin in it so yeah lol)


End file.
